A few words about Eric Mencher’s iPhone blog “If I Were William Weggleston”

“I was trying to be funny (not so successfully!) when I named my blog. It’s a combination of William Eggleston (whose work I love) and William Wegman (whose work, particularly with the dogs, sort of bores me, but I love his sense of humor). And I was wondering, if there was a photographer who combined their sensibilities, what would the photos look like? But of course I don’t think my photos look anything like what a combination of Eggleston and Wegman would be. Maybe I should change the blog’s name!

As for my pictures, I just wander around with my iPhone in hand looking for anything that might make an interesting image. That could be a moment in the street, a still-life, a portrait, an abstraction, etc…

I’m open to anything. I have a good time doing it (always have, in the 35 years I’ve done photography), and ultimately I hope that my photos connect people as well as connect with people. And Instagram is the perfect outlet for that.

My blog is just what I post to Instagram, and to be honest, I pay a lot more attention to Instagram than to the blog world. I love photography and it’s ability to educate and to entertain, and to enrage and to soothe. It’s a powerful medium. Maybe overused today (does everything really need to be photographed?), but better overused than under-appreciated.

My home is in Philadelphia in the United States, my heart is all over the world. Right now I’m living (with my wife, Kass Mencher-@kmencher on Instagram) in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico for six months. We’ve also been living part of the year in Guatemala.”

JMA: Photography became my passion at the age of 20. I started studying engineering but quickly dropped everything for photography. After a time spent in London collecting a number of odd jobs and a degree in photojournalism, I took the entrance exam at “l’école de l’image des Gobelins” in Paris in 1998. On leaving, I started working in a professional lab in Paris. I handled color prints for professional photographers, a very demanding job! A few years later , ten years from now, I myself became a photographer. I exhibited my personal work in galleries both in France and abroad and I am now one of the photographers of R.E.A agency.

OOTP: Can you tell us more about your portrait series?

JMA: With my iPhone , I mostly do “street photography ” looking for the decisive moment : it reminds me of my early days with my Nikon FM2, a film camera I had all the time with me when I lived in London and Paris during my studies. But I also like to be as close as possible to the people , to take the time to talk with them and to honor them through the portrait . For that, I use another “lens” : Tinto 1884 by Hipstamatic. The rendering is close to what can be done with a view camera, even if it is of course not comparable … The idea of ​​composing a series of portraits with my iPhone was born through a photographic project about immigration in Martinique . Since then, I continue this project where the road leads me with the desire to share as many faces as possible: an hymn to life and to the beauty of differences.

OOTP: What apps do you use?

JMA: The app that I use all the time is Hipstamatic / John S lens and C -Type film. I love the rendering of these images with high contrasts, a green cast, a shaded contour and several imperfections in the image. I think that the nostalgic side of the film has attracted me from the beginning. I never crop my photos. However, I sometimes use apps for the editing such as Photo toaster to add a bit of brightness on the whole picture or to make a spot adjustment.

OOTP: Some names of photographers whose work inspires you?

JMA: The list is long and is getting longer as time goes by! I discovered Instagram reading an interview with Ben Lowy. Since then I follow all kinds of photographers, professionals or not, all around the world. This is the magical side of social networks…

OOTP: Anything about the red accents often present in your pictures?

JMA: I think this is both conscious and unconscious .. Red, black and white are my favorite colors with the orange. What matters most to me is harmony, composition , sense … but , yes red, I love it! This is my Spanish side !

We are pleased to welcome Mateo, aka @mateo__ramos a Belgian-Ecuadorian from Vienna | AUSTRIA in our Mobile Photography Gallery. Mateo is a young street photographer shooting mainly in colors. He paid particular attention to the general aesthetics of his photos, with great colors composition and not overloaded details. We asked Mateo to tell us about the picture above as well as about his technique and influences.

“I really started getting interested in street photography two years ago when I discovered the book “Street Photography Now”.”

MY PICTURE

“This photo was taken in Shanghai, China. I was wandering through the narrow alleyways in one of the old neighborhoods

in Shanghai when I came across this abandoned restaurant. I was attracted by the Chinese character on the door an the contrast between the dark interior and the sunny street. So I framed my picture in order to get both, and waited for someone to come into the frame.”

MY TECHNICAL STUFF

“I’ve been shooting with an Ipod but I recently switched to Iphone 4.

I’m not really into editing, I try to edit my pics as little as possible. But I usually modify the contrast and/or the exposure.

I do that with PS Express.”

MY INFLUENCES

“I have been interested in photography since a long time as my father is a cameraman and photographer, but I really

started getting interested in street photography two years ago when I discovered the book “Street Photography Now”. I love the

work of Henri-Cartier Bresson, Bruce Gilden and Trente Park, just to name a few. All the photographers I discovered on Instagram are also a source of inspiration for me.”

We are pleased to welcome Benjamin Rhau, aka @brhau from San Francisco | USA in our Mobile Photography Gallery.

Either black and white or color, Benjamin captures precious moments on the streets of San Francisco.
Benjamin tells us about this photograph as well as about both his technique and influences.

“My primary medium is writing, so I was really not a visual person at all until I started shooting on the iPhone almost 2 years ago.”

MY PICTURE

“People who live in San Francisco can appreciate that it’s usually quite cold and foggy by the beach. We get a few warm days in October, so we were out by the ocean with that beautiful, golden hour light. As I walked with my family, I noticed this man up ahead, who had so much story in his posture and presence. I managed to get one shot, and originally thought I would crop the girls out of the frame. When I checked my roll, I liked the contrast, having them in the shot.”

MY TECHNICAL STUFF

“This was taken on an iPhone 4S with ProCamera. With that app, I tend to manually lock exposure and focus. I didn’t do much processing. I sharpened it slightly in Filterstorm and then cropped it. Sometimes, I like to give the picture a little bit of room in the context of the IG feed, so I added some white space on the borders by adjusting the canvas size in Squaready.”

MY INFLUENCES

“You know, my primary medium is writing, so I was really not a visual person at all until I started shooting on the iPhone almost 2 years ago. But I am very interested in graphic novels, and how people tell stories with minimal line. Adrian Tomine and Charles Burns come to mind. Also, I am a bit of a film nut, stemming from my interest in graphic illustration– a couple of my favorite DP’s are Christopher Doyle and Roger Deakins. I believe they are also both still photographers, but I just know them from the films.”

Even if she lives in Madrid, Orietta is half american and half italian. She mainly shoots black and white street candids.

Today, Orietta tells us about this incredible picture as well as about both her technique and influences in the field of photography.

“I have always been influenced and very interested in the Bauhaus both in graphic design and in photography.”

MY PICTURE

“I took this photo at Fiumicino Airport (Rome) while waiting for my airplane to be called. I saw this quite big advertising light box for Chanel Nº5. As a graphic designer I was attracted by the simple bold black typography on one of it’s white plain sides. I was very lucky because a man with a cap and a cane stopped right in front of it. I took a couple of shots and decided that the one without the 5 would be less predictable and therefore maybe more interesting as a whole.”

MY TECHNICAL STUFF

“I shot this with an iPhone 4 using ProCamera. Then processed it with Snapseed to add some contrast and crop a touch of the man’s legs and a bit of the right side, in order that the silhouette would fill the whole of that angle. I wanted to divide the image into two clearly differentiated fields. ”

MY INFLUENCES

“I have always been influenced and very interested in the Bauhaus both in graphic design and in photography.”

We are pleased to welcome David Green, aka @mypaintinglife from Perth | AUSTRALIA in our Mobile Photography Gallery.

David tells us about this picture as well as about both his technique and influences in the field of photography.

“I find now that my oil painting and photography is converging and I am getting huge inspiration from mobile photography.”

MY PICTURE

“This image was taken on a recent photo walk through the back streets of Kuala Lumpur. I love exploring new places with my camera, and I was hoping to capture some of the grittiness and mystery of the place and its people.”

MY TECHNICAL STUFF

“All my photos are taken with an iPhone4. This was taken using Pro Camera using the exposure control to deepen the shadows. I generally compose and crop first in Snapseed, lowering the contrast and saturation. I prefer to start this way and increase the saturation gently during the edit process. This shot was then edited in PhotoForge2 to add a Gaussian blur and noise. PS Express to use the Reduce Noise adjustment to smooth out the edges and try and achieve a soft focus feel. I often cycle between PhotoForge and PS Express a number of times with incremental changes and may end up using Blender to combine a couple of edits to get the right result. I am trying to stay close to my painterly instincts which does not mean I want the photo to look like a painting but more to achieve a feeling of depth, layers and hidden edges. On this image I finished up in Snapseed using the selective adjustment for brightness and saturation.”

MY INFLUENCES

“I have been painting in oils for a long time, and only recently re-discovered a love for photography. I don’t treat the two as distinct art forms, I enjoy both equally and allow each to influence the other. Most of my influences are from the painting world, such as Hopper, not only for his use of colour, but his exploration of public spaces as a theme in his work. One of my greatest influences is a little known Australian painter, Clarice Beckett, an early tonalist painter. Of course also there is Gerhard Richter and his wonderful photo paintings. I find now that my oil painting and photography is converging and I am getting huge inspiration from mobile photography – not just my own but the work of others. I have started to focus my painting on interpreting the images taken by other mobile photographers (with their consent) – the sources of inspiration here is very exciting.”

“I captured the image very late in the day; the light was falling fast and shadows were deep and long. I was waiting on a corner ready to cross the street and I noticed the split red and yellow paint on the wall behind me and a few intersecting white lines on the road behind the wall. I waited for a minute or so to assess how the shadows of those who passed by were being cast onto the coloured brick. I thought to myself that it would be great if someone interesting walked into frame and then they did – a tall guy with a Dick Tracy style hat and big black coat. I only took a single frame, it was lucky enough to hit the mark.”

MY TECHNICAL STUFF

“The image was shot with ProCamera & I exposed for the brightest point in the scene; giving me deep crushed blacks and a more saturated image. Then in Snapseed I slightly increased contrast & altered colour balance a little to give the image a little more warmth.”

MY PICTURE
“It was taken last year at Ebisu Shrine during Ebisu Festival in Tokushima City in western Japan.
The festival is held around the second week of January. People go to the shrine to pray for good fortune for their business. Needless to say it’s a very popular event.
This photo was taken near the front of the shrine where people pray. I turned around and saw this huge crowd behind me and took the shot with my iPhone held up over my head.”

MY TECHNICAL STUFF
“At the time I was using my iPhone 4 and shot with the native camera.
It’s pretty heavily processed. If I can remember correctly, I used BlurFX, Iris(which I was using a lot then), Blender and Pro HDR.

I had wanted to take a photo that looked almost collage-like with all of the different faces. Using BlurFX allowed me to achieve that to some degree, I think.
I was really happy with how this turned out for that reason and also because it was different from what I had done before.”

“It also reminded me that what is behind us can sometimes be more interesting than what is in front of us.” Dave Weekes